The Timeless Murder
by CoolKid94
Summary: Conan and his friends go to a science convention, but halfway through the invention of choice goes up in flames! Accident or homicide? Plus, later there's a twist, preventing Conan from solving it! Rated T for reasons revealed when you read.
1. The Invitation

My third story's up finally. I decided to make it a little sci-fi this time, and there's a murder case partway through. However, I _do _need four Japanese names for the four suspects, plus another one for the victim. So, I need four guy names and one girl name. Otherwise, I can't post the murder case! I already have the idea for it, plus who did it (I think), so I'm really looking forward to it!

Disclaimer: As much as I wish I owned it, I don't believe in wishing on a star, so my wish won't come true...

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><p>Chapter One<p>

Agasa-hakase was sorting through his mail one day when he came across an invitation to yet _another_ science convention. He got them a lot, since he was sort of well-respected throughout the Japanese scientific community, but since he got so many, most of the invitations went in the trash.

This particular invitation caught Hakase's eye, though. It looked just like any other, but it said that a revolutionary new invention was about to be showcased. Hakase was intrigued by this invitation, since it also contained a brochure showcasing various items, as well as a number to call and RSVP, indicating that it was a somewhat private event and most of the general public wouldn't be allowed in at all. It also said you could invite as many as eight people to come with you.

He was pondering all this when the door flew open and five kids came in. The three in the lead were practically bouncing off the walls in excitement while the other two were more subdued. The two subdued children, whom Hakase knew as Edogawa Conan and Haibara Ai, saw Hakase staring at the invitation and went up to ask him about it.

"Another invitation, Hakase?" asked Ai. She was sort of like an adoptive daughter to Agasa, and could read his moods better than most people. "What's it to this time?" She sounded bored.

"They're probably just showcasing a bunch of junk, similar to what Hakase makes," said Conan dully. Conan was in reality famed High School Detective Kudo Shinichi, and had known Agasa since he was a kid the first time. Due to an experimental poison, both he and Ai, originally adults, had to live and act like kids again. Few people knew the truth, but Hakase was one of the few, and they dropped all childish facades around him.

"Oi!" said Hakase, "I don't invent junk! Your bowtie isn't junk, is it?"

"Anyways," cut in Ai, "Where's it to this time?"

"It's at Touto University. They're showcasing all sorts of gadgets and stuff from college students all across Japan."

"Really?" butted in another boy. He was a real kid by the name of Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko and a close friend of the two 'kids'. "They're showing off cool gadgets? Awesome!"

"That sounds really cool!" said a girl, their friend Yoshida Ayumi.

"Do they have one that makes unagi?" said their friend Kojima Genta.

The three kids had obviously overheard what was going on and were now making plans to go, chatting among themselves in expectation. The other three knew they couldn't tell the kids they weren't going now, since they'd make them all sad, and they'd never hear the end of it.

"The convention is the Saturday after next," said Hakase, glancing at the paper. It starts at 10AM and ends at 5. At 1 they're going to showcase the big invention that's advertised so much here."

"I wonder what it is!"

"Maybe it's a force field generator! Like you see in sci-fi movies and stuff!"

"Maybe it's a new generation of microwave!"

The three kids started tossing ideas around, and Hakase knew he'd have to call and make a reservation. As he was reading the number in preparation to call, the phone rang, and Ai answered it.

"Hello, is Agasa-hakase there?"

"Who is this?" Ai thought the voice sounded familiar, but couldn't quite place it.

"Kudo Yusaku-desu. You're Haibara-san, right?"

"Yes, Kudo-san. I'll get Hakase." She turned from the phone and said, "Hakase, phone for you."

Agasa took the phone and started talking. He discussed something with Yusaku for a few minutes, and then put the phone down. He turned to Conan who was looking at him quizzically. "What'd Dad want?"

"Oh, Yusaku-kun wanted to know if we were planning on going to the convention. I told him yes, and then he asked if he could tag along. He said there's something there he had an interest in, but people living outside Japan couldn't get invitations, and that included him and Yukiko-kun."

Ai spoke up, "If eight people can go, besides you, then there's the five of us, Kudo-san, and two empty spots. I presume you'll ask Mouri-san and Mouri-tantei to come, too, though, so that'll fill it up."

With that, Hakase called the Detective Agency, explained what it was, and Ran said that she and Kogoro would love to go. They then called and reserved their spots, and started making plans to go, all having high expectations of what was coming.

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><p>Unlike with some of my other stories, this story will go straight into the science convention next chapter. I have a reason for putting in Yusaku, too, and you'll find out what it is later (It can't be for the murder, if Conan's there, right? Not telling!)<p>

Future chapters are sort of sci-fi-ish, but no more than the sixth movie, _The Phantom of Baker Street_.


	2. Touring the Exhibits

Next chapter! It's short, since it's leading up to the main event, but I offset this with humor, as well as one reason I rated it T! Enjoy reading about it!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, then the series would've gone in a very different direction.

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><p>Chapter Two<p>

The day of the convention came with high expectations. They all met at 9 at Agasa's house to get ready, though Yusaku would be joining them at the convention itself, as the university was closer to the airport. Agasa was ecstatic about being around so many brilliant young geniuses, and Kogoro was hoping that there would be plenty of college girls attending. Ran, when she heard a Kudo was coming, was ecstatic, before she realized it wasn't Shinichi, but his dad instead.

They then crammed themselves into Agasa's yellow beetle and Kogoro's small rental car, and made their way there. Even so early, the parking garage was packed, and there was a long queue of people trying to get in. The line was moving slowly, but it just added to the mystery of what was inside. Kogoro was keeping himself entertained by ogling the college girls wandering around, but Ran soon stopped it as soon as she noticed.

While they were waiting, they were met by Kudo Yusaku, whom people let through because he was so famous, and because there were so many fans hovering around him, people thought he'd originally been in line and been forced out. After a while, they reached the front, confirmed they had been invited, and went inside.

It was so crowded inside that they soon decided to stay in groups, rather than go alone. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta ran off one way, and Ran, Kogoro, and Agasa went off in another. That left Ai, Conan, and Yusaku. Each group stuck together to avoid getting lost, trampled, etc. There were a ton of cool exhibits in all categories, like aviation, biology, computer science, engineering, and more. Even Ai found herself entertained with the chemistry ward. At noon, they all met up in the food court in the middle and helped themselves. Kogoro found himself paying for both his and Ran's food, since Ran didn't have any money after an incident from earlier, which Agasa related to Conan privately. Apparently, there'd been an adult-only exhibit (weirdly), where you had to show photo ID and proof of age to get in, and Kogoro had noticed it almost immediately (no surprise there). He had then tried to slip away from Ran long enough to get inside, but she'd caught him and he'd paid the price, karate-in-the-crotch style. He apparently hadn't learned his lesson, and after trying to sneak in again, Ran had had to pay off the guy checking IDs to keep Kogoro out, which is why she had low funds, and Kogoro's wallet was quickly emptying.

After lunch, they decided to go ahead into the auditorium in the back where they were going to show off the highly anticipated invention, getting there early to get good seats. On the way in, there was a drawing going on. According to the sign, the person or group of people drawn would be in a demonstration onstage during the exhibition. All of them except Kogoro, who had been forbidden by Ran to do anything he wanted after the incident earlier, put their slips in. Ran, on a stroke of inspiration, told her Dad to get one, too. She then grabbed it and wrote 'Detective Boys' on it and gave it to Kogoro to put it in, too. Kogoro had had to get the slip himself, and had had to put it in himself since there were burly guys watching everything and making sure people followed the 'one slip per person' rule. However, the line saying one name or group name had indicated that if a slip with the name of some group on it were picked, several people could participate.

They then went in and took seats near the front, in great anticipation of what was to come.

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><p>All right! Next chapter is the beginning of the main event! As I said last chapter, I suck at making up names, including English, so if I'm going to carry out this murder, I'll need to name everyone, or it'll be that much harder to understand the action. So, four guy names and one girl name, all Japanese, please. Whether you give names or not, review anyways, and many thanks to those who have reviewed already.<p> 


	3. The Demonstration

This chapter starts off the murder case. The invention is based off those in _Star Trek_ (which I don't own), and you'll find out the why and how when you read.

Also, many thanks to aly-angelflight for supplying the names of the original characters. They'll start appearing in this chapter, and the rest show up next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Detective Conan any more than I own Star Trek.

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><p>Chapter Three<p>

At around 12:45, people started entering the auditorium in much greater numbers than before. Soon, there were so many people that the hubbub was almost unbearable, before the lights dimmed and the presentation began.

It was a group of four students from Teitan University who were presenting, along with their professor. They then informed the audience that their invention was actually a teleporter. They proceeded to tell what a teleporter is supposed to do, then they showed a slideshow of how it worked, which bored everyone except the geeks in the room.

After that, the invention was wheeled out. Everyone gazed at it, all boredom forgotten. It was shiny, and consisted of a console connected to two pads, both of which looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. The students then plugged it up, got it running, and then the professor went up to the microphone to announce what exactly the demonstration was and what would happen.

The professor then introduced himself as Ootori Mashashiro, and said, "Since we've explained _how_ this works, we'll now _show_ you how it works. The basic principle is that the first pad locks onto whatever is placed on it, then disintegrates and puts it back together on the other pad. Here, the one console controls both pads, since the two pads are so near to each other, but in a long distance situation, there would be a console on each one, and the consoles would communicate with each other wirelessly."

"Before we draw names, though, I would like to reassure everyone that this system has been tested multiple times before today. We've teleported everything from common objects, like pencils and paperclips to more complex objects like fruits and vegetables. After that we migrated to various animals and then humans. We've tested this machine on ourselves numerous times with no ill effects, so please have no worries!"

"With that, we'll start the drawing," said a student, who had been introduced as Haruki Kentaro stepping forward and addressing the crowd. "While we have asked for each person to only put in one slip, we also allowed you to write the name of a group on it. If a group in drawn, then up to five people from the group may come onstage." With that, he gestured towards his fellow students, who brought forth several large jars filled with slips. A large bowl was brought on stage, and the contents of all the jars were poured inside. Then the slips were mixed for about a minute before the student mixing quit and said, "With that, I'll commence with the drawing!" With that he plunged his hand deep within and withdrew a slip of paper.

The entire audience waited with bated breath as Mr. Haruki _slowly_ unfolded the slip, looked at it, and brought up the microphone.

"Will the group known as the Detective Boys come on stage for the demonstration, please?"

There was instant uproar. For one thing, three kids had just cheered at the top of their lungs, and run off towards the stage, leading two other kids with them. For another, the audience had heard 'Detective Boys' and wondered how the heck a _group of kids_ had gotten picked. Then they saw five kids running towards the stage, and were even more annoyed, since none of them looked older than seven or eight.

The annoyance vanished when the five kids got on stage and turned around. Everyone thought the kids, who were grinning enormously, were just _so cute_ that they just _couldn't_ get annoyed with them. Ran was ecstatic, since it had been her slip that had been picked, though technically she hadn't put it in herself.

Mr. Haruki then said, "Now that the lucky kids are up here, we shall proceed with the presentation!" He put down the microphone, and then went to help his fellow students start calibrating everything.

Professor Ootori went up to the kids, and gave a contraption to Conan.

"What's this?"

"It's a beacon. If something goes wrong, and you don't teleport to the right place, just push that button and the machine will lock onto you and bring you back. It's just a precaution, but better safe than sorry." Everybody was ready, and the students were gesturing at the professor, and he said, "Now go get on that platform and hold hands with somebody, one hand for each of yours."

When the kids had done so, Professor Ootori went behind the console and said, like he was a magician instead of a scientist, "Now behold the future of transportation! You see no walls, no mirrors, or any other tricks that might prove this system a fake. Now watch as I teleport these children from one point on Earth to another!" He then turned a key on the panel.

Lights went out around the room, and spotlights were trained on the stage so everyone could see clearly. It looked like nothing was happening, but then, the five children, holding hands and with their eyes shut tight, appeared to simply fade out of existence.

The audience gasped in astonishment. "And now," said the professor, "I shall make them reappear on the other side of the stage!" He turned another key.

Then there was trouble. Suddenly there was a loud bang and a flash or orange, like a mushroom cloud, and smoke suddenly poured from the console, amidst a fire.

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><p>Trouble! Big trouble! The consoles's destroyed, and Conan and his friends have been disintegrated! Who's going to solve the murder, and how is Conan going to come back? Find out next time!<p>

At this point, I hereby redraw my request for Japanese names. I have all the names I need, and I don't need any more. I do appreciate being helped out, and I hope all my readers will help me out in the future, should I need help again. Thanks!


	4. Accident or Homicide?

Now to resolve the evil cliffie! This chapter's somber tone about the kids quickly lightens up again, so don't start crying yet!

Disclaimer: If I owned DC, then this story would be much better written.

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><p>Chapter Four<p>

The audience panicked. Who wouldn't if they saw a fire in a crowded hall like this? They then ran towards the entrances, burst down the doors, and fled the convention. They had been wary of the experimental equipment to begin with, and now if had just exploded in front of their eyes. Within minutes, the hall was completely empty, except for the guards, the scientists on stage trying to remedy the situation, and the four 'guardians' of the five kids, not counting the people who were trampled to death by the mob.

Ran, Kogoro, Agasa, and Yusaku quickly ran up on stage. They were all worried about what happened to the kids, but they stopped short when they saw the mess. The console had gone up in the professor's face, killing him instantly, and the console itself was a complete wreck. The keypad had flown partway across the room, and the two keys had impaled themselves, one in his heart, and the other in his head. He had died instantly.

Once the fire was out, the police arrived. Most of the guests had fled, so there were few witnesses left. "What happened here?" asked Inspector Megure in amazement and horror upon entering the room.

"The experiment being shown on stage went up in flames, and the audience panicked," said a voice. Megure whirled around and said, "Yusaku-kun! You were here, too?"

"Yes. I accompanied Agasa-hakase. We were all in here for the demonstration of a new invention. It didn't pan out and there was an explosion, and mass panic."

"What kind of invention was it?"

"It was supposed to act as a teleporter, like something out of a sci-fi movie. A demonstration was underway when the machine blew up." Yusaku was trying very hard to keep his voice level, but Megure unfortunately noticed it. "What's the matter, Yusaku-kun?"

"There were five people being teleported in the demonstration. They're likely dead."

Megure noticed Ran, Kogoro, and Agasa behind Yusaku, Ran crying her eyes out. He also noticed the lack of a certain smart little boy with oversized glasses, and he had a suspicion who was in the demonstration to affect them all so much.

"What do you mean by likely, Yusaku-kun?"

Agasa stepped in and said, "The five had already been completely disintegrated by the machine. It blew up mid-teleport, so it's likely they're dead. The machine's completely fried." At this Ran cried some more.

Detective Takagi, who had accompanied Megure, asked timidly, "Were the five people Conan-kun and his friends?" Ran's increased wailing answered the question for itself.

Megure decided to lighten up the mood a little. "How many bodies do we have?"

Kogoro spoke up and said, "We haven't determined how many audience members got trampled, but the professor in charge of the machine's operation died, and the five kids proba…"

He got cut off by a student, Mr. Haruki Kentaro, running up and saying, "The kids probably aren't dead! Don't say that! We think there's still a chance they're alive!"

Everyone not attempting to identity the bodies of the trampled victims immediately followed him onstage, where coroners and forensics people were attempting to make sense of the mess.

"What a futuristic contraption!" exclaimed Megure.

"What makes you think the kids are alive?" said Yusaku quietly, hiding his worry for his son.

Kenaro answered, "Well, the way this works is that whatever is on the pad is converted into digital packets of data. That way it can be transmitted to other consoles and put back together on their pads. Data is stored in an interior memory bank before it's sent to another console, where it's converted back into matter. Since the machine blew up before starting to put them back together, the data is still in the memory bank. The memory bank is still intact. So if we can hook up that memory bank with the spare console at the lab, then we might be able to put them back together. The disintegration progress is like suspended animation, so they won't feel a thing!"

"If they won't feel a thing, then it probably wouldn't hurt to hold off reinstating them until later," said Megure. "In any case, until we wrap this up, we must ask that you remain here. However, it _does_ look like an accident, so..."

"It's not an accident. This case is obviously murder. The target was, of course, the late Professor Ootori."

"How do you know, Yusaku-kun?"

"There is clear evidence of a bomb inside the console. If it was just fried electronics or a blown fuse or something, then there wouldn't have been so much devastation. There isn't any flammable material inside the console normally, so it shouldn't have gone up in such grand style as we saw it. Since it did, it means someone planted a bomb in an attempt to kill the professor, who would be operating the controls. The murderer was someone who knew that the professor would be at the console, and not someone else. Therefore, the murderer," he turned to the four college students, who were white with shock, "is one of those four!"

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><p>The Great Detective Kudo Yusaku comes to light next chapter. Next chapter, the murder will be completely solved, so no more evil cliffies in <em>that<em> respect.

To those who want to try to solve the murder early, I'll give you some clues unavailable in this chapter:

1. There had to be a detonator, something inconspicuous, like a cell phone or a pocket lighter.

2. With such an experimental piece of equipment, the bomb would have to have been placed right before the murder since the console would need to be constantly checked, and the murderer would have been seen unless they somehow _couldn't_ have been seen.

3. There are four suspects. The three guys are: Haruki Kentaro, Itou Tatsuya, and Ueda Haruhiko. The girl is Hatsuda Sanae. Kentaro and Sanae don't smoke, and Sanae has a makeup kit.

4. I originally wrote the draft for this murder before I had the character names, so I'd have had to have written in something to distinguish the murderer from everyone else.

Good luck guessing! Also note that there are red herrings in here, though I won't specify. Have fun, and please review!


	5. The Solution and a New Problem

Alright, the solution to the murder is done! It's the first murder case I've come up with and written, so it might be simple, but I'm proud of it, anyways. The hints I gave at the end of the last chapter were fairly simple, but I'll give you one more: The weapon and the murderer were mentioned more than once. If you're still confused, read on and find out!

Disclaimer: If I owned DC, all the murders would be simple enough for Kogoro to solve without Conan's help.

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><p>Chapter Five<p>

Yusaku left Megure and Kogoro questioning the four suspects and started inspecting the scene. For a bomb to be planted in such a piece of experimental equipment, which would need constant tune-up, the murderer would have had to plant the bomb right before the demonstration. It was probably done during the presentation. All the lights were out, including those on stage, in order to better see the projection of the computer models, which had been projected onto a retractable screen. In that time, you could use the glare from the light on the screen to see what you were doing, but no one in the audience could. If you moved quickly enough, and the other students were focused on the professor's speech, then anybody could have done it.

In the panic afterwards, the bomb switch could easily have been wiped of fingerprints and hidden somewhere, so that wouldn't be any help. That's why he had named the four students as suspects, since all four had been behind the screen and would have ample opportunity to plant the bomb.

As Yusaku had predicted, all four college students claimed to have been watching the screen and listening to the professor, and claimed to not have noticed or to have done anything. The detonator was soon found backstage, in the shape of a lighter. The lighter was small and had been modified to be the switch and to also still light up, but could no longer be used because it was leaking lighter fluid from someone having stepped on it. An extra button was found under a sticker on the side, and since the lighter showed signs of someone trying to destroy it, and had no fingerprints, it was concluded that it was indeed the trigger.

Megure then had the suspects turn out their pockets. Itou Tatsuya and Ueda Haruhiko both had a pack of cigarettes each and a lighter each. They each also had a handkerchief, a cell phone, a wallet, and car keys. Haruki Kentaro had the same, but he wasn't a smoker and therefore didn't have cigarettes and a lighter. The only woman, Hatsuda Sanae, wasn't a smoker either, but she had the addition of a makeup kit, lipstick, and other female cosmetics.

Yusaku analyzed what everyone had, and determined the murderer. He then proceeded to ask the other three students about the issues the student had with the professor to determine the motive. After determining it, he looked through some security footage for the murderer's alibi, or so he told others. He decided to expose the murderer's crime once he'd found all the proof.

"Megure-keibu, I know who did it, and I have the evidence to prove it."

"Really, Yusaku-kun? Who did it? How did they do it?"

"Well, it was actually a simple trick. The murderer, being a student and a special guest, smuggled the bomb and the lighter through the back door earlier this morning, where there was no security, and entered with their colleagues. That way they wouldn't be searched. Then, during the presentation, they quietly inserted the bomb into the console and returned to their position. No one noticed because the lights were dim and everyone was watching the professor give his speech. Then came the demonstration. The murderer pressed the button right as the professor turned the first key, but it didn't work. It didn't work, and they had to wait until the transporter had fully disintegrated the five kids. That would've increased the kids' chance for survival, since a kid half-disintegrated wouldn't have lived, while a kid fully disintegrated and safe in the memory bank would've."

"In the commotion, you planned to wipe your prints off the lighter and hide it backstage, but your colleagues running around caused you to drop it. That's when the lighter was stepped on. You quickly picked it up, wiped it of fingerprints, and hid it. However, in your haste, you failed to notice that the lighter fluid had leaked out."

"Then that means the murderer is whoever has the handkerchief with lighter fluid on it!" exclaimed Megure.

"Correct. The murderer has been with everyone the whole time and hasn't had a chance to dispose of the handkerchief or wash it. The murderer is you!" he proclaimed, pointing at Hatsuda Sanae.

"What? How can you proclaim a person a murderer just because their handkerchief smells like lighter fluid?"

"You couldn't have gotten the fluid on your handkerchief from anything else _but_ that lighter. You don't smoke, so you don't have a lighter of your own, and would have no reason to borrow one. You've been here since early this morning preparing, and if you'd had it on there beforehand, it would have come off when you used the restroom earlier. You were observed using the restroom, and security cameras outside filming the entrance to the restroom have shown you stowing a handkerchief away. Also, that particular lighter is a special imported lighter, and the compatible lighter fluid is hard to come by in Japan. So if your handkerchief shows signs of this special imported lighter fluid that is very substantial evidence."

Ms. Sanae collapsed and started bawling, knowing she'd been found out, "That guy! He stole it! He stole my designs for the teleporter! When I confronted him, he merely said that if I claimed to have made designs that were better than the ones _he_ made, I wouldn't be believed. He said I'd be a laughingstock. So I made other designs to prove him wrong, and planned to patent them as mine, but he stepped in and used his influence, and the patent office completely rejected them without looking! _Then_ he intercepted my mail and stole the letter so I'd never find out!"

"I could've lived with him passing off my designs once, but stealing them _again_ was just too much. He even lied about it. I found out about the whole thing when I was going through his desk looking for something completely unrelated. It was then I read the complete letter, and other documents that showed he was in complete correspondence with them! I couldn't forgive him. He stole my work, disgraced me, and treated me like a complete idiot! There are some things in this world you can never forgive, and that's one of them – taking advantage of a human being and squashing their dreams like you'd squash a bug." The woman finished speaking through gritted teeth, and was totally shocked by the next words from a certain self-proclaimed great detective.

"He may have done bad things to you, but you did even worse. A human life is much more precious than some designs or personal pride. At least those you can regain. When you stole his life, you made yourself into a person worse than he ever was." Kogoro finished speaking while watching Takagi lead her away.

They left the hall then, heading to the lab with the other students, all of whom were in shock over what their colleague had done. Upon arrival, they immediately hooked up the memory bank to the console.

"This should do it," said Kentaro. He seemed to know more about how everything worked than the other two, and everyone mentally decided to call him the 'head student'. "Stand back then, please, and we'll see what happens."

He turned on the machine and they waited. Nothing happened. After two minutes, he tried again, and still nothing. He then checked the machine, and from the look on his face, they knew something was wrong.

"What is it?" asked Megure.

"The memory bank is empty! They're not here!"

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><p>Ouch, <em>another <em>cliffie! The kids aren't dead, though, and I have an interesting way of bringing them back. One more question, though: What do all of you think about my giving the story the same ending, but writing two different ways of getting there? If it sounds confusing, then wait for the next chapter to answer. And please review!


	6. Time Twist

Conan gets found in this chapter, and the reason I called this _The Timeless Murder_ comes to light. Enjoy it!

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><p>Chapter Six<p>

"What do you mean they're not here?" exploded Kogoro. Ran had to hold him back to keep from pounding the guy to a pulp. "How are we supposed to find them then?"

Yusaku spoke up, "I noticed the professor giving something to Conan-kun. What was it?"

Kentaro's eyes grew wide, "Of course, the beacon! It'll let us lock onto them!"

"How does this beacon work?" asked Agasa.

"It gives us a signature to use for teleportation. It's something to lock on to. It was only going to be used for emergencies, but I believe this _is_ an emergency." He started punching in numbers on the console. "First to use its internal GPS to locate it."

"It has a GPS?"

"Yes. It makes contact with the satellites and after triangulating its exact position we can teleport anyone from that location back to the starter pad." He began calculating and then exclaimed, "They're still in Tokyo! If these coordinates are to be trusted, then they just got teleported somewhere in the city, and not somewhere else in the world." He took out a map, "Let's see, if these coordinates are right, then they're somewhere in the vicinity of Teitan Elementary School."

"If they're there, it'd be easier to just pick them up," said Megure. "It'd be a lot easier than using that infernal contraption again, not to mention a lot safer."

The all agreed, so they immediately got in their cars and drove over to the school. They got out of their cars and Kentaro got out his GPS tracker. "This way," he said, looking at the screen, and starting to walk. They all followed behind quickly. In the middle of the school yard, he stopped and said, "According to this, they should be right here, but they're not."

"Of course they aren't!" roared Kogoro. "If they were anywhere around, they'd have come running up to us the moment they saw us!"

"You're sure they're here?" asked Yusaku, and he got an affirmative nod. "Well, if they're not on the surface, and they can't be in the sky, then the only other conclusion is the beacon got buried in the ground. Let's find shovels."

They immediately went to the tool shed, got shovels, and began digging. Within ten minutes, they uncovered a box, labeled TIME CAPSULE: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2050 BY ORDER OF TEITAN ELEMENTARY CLASS 1-B.

They opened the box, despite the warning, and started rooting through the contents. Suddenly, Mr. Itou reached in and withdrew a plastic bag. Within was the beacon, along with a note and a Detective Boys badge. The note was then opened and it read

_To those who may find this note, I would just like to say that this badge is a genuine Detective Boys badge that Agasa-hakase will invent in ten years time. During a teleportation demonstration, the professor in charge and his crew sent my four friends and me to the past, 10 years in the past to be exact. Our families don't know us, so we've had to make the best of things. We've put this note and this Detective Boys badge into this capsule so that it may be found in the future, and you can be sure of this note's authenticity. We have resolved to always stick together and keep the beacon on, in the hopes that one day we might go home. With that I say farewell, and please either try to get us home, or look for us in ten years, as teenagers. _

_Sincerely, _

_Edogawa Conan, Yoshida Ayumi, Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko, Kojima Genta, & Haibara Ai_

_The Detective Boys_

On the bottom of this note was hastily scribbled:

_We have also resolved to keep the beacon given to us at the science convention in here as well. It's turned off, but I've activated the internal GPS, and it should easily be found by satellite in the future. It will be turned off from now on because there is now no need for us to go home. If you want details, ask me about it in ten years. People have always said I look like Shinichi-niichan when he was small, so look for a Shinichi-niichan in thick, dorky glasses, accompanied by a pretty girl who is not Ran-neechan. Until then, the best of luck, though I wish ours had been as good…_

_Edogawa Conan & Yoshida Ayumi_

"Well, it appears you found our note," said a voice, one that was oddly familiar. They whirled around and saw…

"Shinichi!" exclaimed Ran. For indeed the boy looked for the entire world like Kudo Shinichi, except for the fact he was wearing oversized glasses.

"My name is Edogawa Conan, not Kudo Shinichi, though people have been trying to convince me otherwise for the last ten years, Ran-neechan."

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><p>Oi! What happened? Why did the five kids go into the past, and how were they not seen during the ten years? Why are there only two names on the second part of the note? Find this out and more next chapter! Until then, read and review!<p> 


	7. Explanations

Explanations chapter! This chapter includes character death, but I plan to remedy that with the whole 'time travel' concept. Read to find out!

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><p>Chapter Seven<p>

Everybody stared at the boy in complete and utter shock. Ran spoke up, "You're really…Conan-kun? You look exactly like Shinichi! _Exactly_!" Just then a girl who they hadn't noticed came forward and said, "He is Conan-kun!. Just as I am Yoshida Ayumi!"

The girl indeed looked like Ayumi. They knew so because of age-enhancement software they'd once encountered, where a computer simulated what you'd look like in ten years, and Ayumi looked just like that, and was very beautiful. Ran had to elbow Kogoro to keep him from ogling, and the three college students had to stop themselves from staring, too. She looked kind of like Ran, except for the different hairstyle and the bust size, for Ayumi's bust was larger than Ran's.

Yusaku and Agasa were the only two there not shocked by Conan's adult appearance, though they were surprised by Ayumi. Agasa asked, "Ayumi-kun, Conan-kun, if you don't mind, what exactly happened to the others?"

They both looked at the ground, looking sad. Conan started explaining. "After we found ourselves back in the past, we started panicking. Everything looked different, everything looked newer, and our cell phones didn't work. They were too advanced, and weren't compatible with the older technology. After about two days, the beacon got stolen by some thug, and it took a while to track him down. When we finally did, we found ourselves in the lair of some evil criminal organization, one which was toppled two years later. We succeeded in taking it back, but the other three were all killed when a gas tank blew up. We barely survived as it is. We'd written the note in advance, and after the tragedy, we added the beacon to the bag as well. Today, ten years later, you all found it."

"Where did you live, then? None of us ever saw you!" Ran was wondering how she'd missed someone who looked exactly like her childhood friend.

"We've been living for a while out in the country to keep low profiles, especially since I looked so much like Shinichi-niichan. We went to an orphanage, disguised as brother and sister, and we both used the surname 'Edogawa'. Over the years, we solved cases around the area, but never really ventured outside it, so we didn't become well-known. We weren't media hogs either. We figured today, the day of the science convention, was the day you'd locate the beacon, so we high-tailed it back to Tokyo just in time for you to find it."

They all looked shocked by Conan's story. They couldn't even begin to imagine what he and Ayumi had been through. Then Yusaku spoke up. "Conan-kun, you said you had the beacon for a few days, right?"

"Yeah, we did. We activated it as soon as we got our bearings. Whenever it was on, we'd always stick together, and if one of us noticed the guy with it starting to look funny, we planned to drop whatever we were doing and get to it. But then _he_ came. He barged into where we were staying, decided to flip the beacon for cash, and stole it."

Yusaku was analyzing this new info. "So the beacon was on for two days. Could it be possible to lock onto it within that timeframe and bring them home?" he directed this last part at the three college students.

"Actually, it might be," said Kentaro excitedly, "if we could duplicate what happened, we could teleport them from the past into the memory banks, and from there we could reinstate them. Then we could avoid all the tragedy they went through! Everything would be fine!"

With that, they reburied the time capsule, but without the plastic bag they'd found, and they all went back to the lab.

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><p>Next chapter is the ending. It'll be a happy ending, and the three kids will be resurrected, probably. Look forward to it, and <em>please<em> review.


	8. Final Return

Here's the ending! It's a lot less gloomy than previous chapters, so enjoy it!

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><p>Chapter Eight<p>

It took a few weeks for the explosion to fully be analyzed, as well as its effects on the machine. Then it was a simple matter of rigging it to be 'exploded' again to duplicate what happened the first time. In the meantime, Conan and Ayumi lived with Yusaku at the Kudo Mansion, while everyone else did their own thing. Ran was sad that such a convincing Shinichi look-alike was living with another girl, but she reminded herself that the boy was not _really_ Shinichi, so why should she be jealous, anyway?

Finally the modifications were done. Everyone who knew the full circumstances tagged along to the lab as soon as everything was in perfect working order. The console had apparently been hooked up to some kind of earthquake generating device. The principle was, apparently, that the explosion had hit the memory banks with so much force that all the data inside had been blown away to the past, where it was reconstructed as the five kids.

The earthquake generator would rattle the equipment during retrieval, and would hopefully get everyone from the past back to the present. The timing had to be precise, as there was only a two day window for retrieval. To aid in this precision, the machine would try to replicate the previous teleporter transmission, which had taken the five kids to the past in the first place.

After all the geeky explanations, the machine was hooked up and ready to go. The machine was turned on, and everyone waited with bated breath. Conan was thinking of where he would be in a minute, the memories he'd lose and the new ones he'd gain. Ayumi was actually hoping it wouldn't work, since all her memories would disappear and she might lose Conan forever.

Then the head student turned the first key. The machine rattled and rolled, and everyone covered their faces, bracing for something bad. Nothing happened. Suddenly, Mr. Ueda peered into the memory bank, and shouted really loud, "It worked! We've got them!" Everyone was glad, but knew to save their rejoicing for later, in case something might still go wrong. Then Kentaro slowly turned the second key, and slowly, oh so slowly, five outlines started appearing on the pad.

In the next few seconds, the outlines grew more solid and then they were back. The kids opened their eyes, looked around, and let out screams of joy, as did the adults. Everyone was celebrating, and no one realized that grown-up Conan and Ayumi had vanished into thin air, as had the beacon, since they'd been rescued from the past before they could live ten years and come back the natural way, and so no even remembered them, and all traces of them being there had vanished as well.

After all the celebrations were over, and a follow-up report on the whole incident had been submitted to Police HQ by Inspector Megure and Detective Takagi, who had tagged along, everyone went home. The three real kids were ecstatic to be home. Unlike Conan and Ai, they'd never lived in that time period, and the whole place had been alien. Technology was slow, and a lot of landmarks they knew either looked different or didn't exist at all.

Apparently, they'd been picked up on the morning of their second day there, and they'd been standing around the beacon in the middle of the Beika Park when everything started going white. When their vision had cleared, they had found themselves in the science lab, with everyone celebrating.

After explaining their turn of events, Conan asked, "Hey Yusaku-ojisan," he was pretending he wasn't related to him, "just how long were we gone?" If they'd been gone two days, then they shouldn't have been celebrating so much, or so he thought.

"Oh, only about three weeks or so, Conan-kun," Ran answered him, and Conan could tell she was trying really hard to keep the joy out of her voice. Conan instantly realized why everyone had been so worried. With all the time travel stuff, while they'd only been in the past two days, they had arrived back into the future weeks after they'd initially left. The three kids were taken home, where they were met by overjoyed parents, and Yusaku, Agasa, Conan, and Ai had gone to Agasa's house to discuss the murder case, and what, if anything, the five kids had done in the past, and if the two of them noticed anything different.

"Well," said Conan, "we really didn't do much. Haibara's read her share of sci-fi novels, and warned us to not do much of anything, if we could help it. All we really did was knock out 7 year old Shinichi and replace him with me, minus the glasses. That's how we got that note and the badge into the time capsule without anybody noticing. (Note: the beacon never had gone in because that was put in after it had been retrieved, and it had never been lost when the five kids came back home) I presume you have the badge now, so I think I'd like it back." Agasa took out the badge, which he'd already confirmed was in perfect working order, and gave it back to Conan.

Conan then went home to the Detective Agency, and Yusaku went back to America. They resumed their normal routines, and Conan couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if they hadn't been able to come back. He eventually gave up, since, by his logic, what happened in the past stays in the past, and since the past was past, wondering about what might have happened wasn't the wisest move. He therefore resolved to always look towards the future, and _that _philosophy was what led to the downfall of the Organization a year later.

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><p>I've been thinking about doing an alternate ending to this story, and I think I'm going to follow through with it. What I'll do is rewrite the last three chapters, but I'll write them so that grown up Conan and Ayumi never make an appearance. This alternate reality is what the world was like <em>after<em> the five kids were rescued, and tells how they realized where they were so they can get them back. So my question is should I post all three chapters separately or combine all three into one?

However, I won't change the ending, so the ending above will remain the same. The story is over, I'm just adding a little extra. So, please read and review!


	9. Alternate Reality

Due to the fact that this story is over, and I haven't been getting many reviews lately, I have decided to just put the last three alternate chapters in one. You'll notice a lot of similarities, and that's because I copy and pasted before editing/updating the text. You'll notice several obvious differences if you compare chapters.

Ch. 6 - Has a new way to find the five kids, and an altered note.

Ch.7 - Shorter than original b/c it lacks the explanation of what happened in the past.

Ch.8 - A little different at the beginning, but the ending is almost EXACTLY the same.

Anyways, enjoy this part, and have fun comparing!

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><p>Chapter Six Alternate<p>

"What do you mean they're not here?" exploded Kogoro. Ran had to hold him back to keep from pounding the college guy to a pulp. "How are we supposed to find them then?"

Yusaku spoke up, "I noticed the professor giving something to Conan-kun. What was it?"

Kentaro's eyes grew wide, "Of course, the beacon! It'll let us lock onto them!"

"How does this beacon work?" asked Agasa.

"It gives us a signature to use for teleportation. It's something to lock on to. It was only going to be used for emergencies, but I believe this _is_ an emergency." He started punching in numbers on the console. "First to use its internal GPS to locate it."

"It has a GPS?"

"Yes. It makes contact with the satellites and after triangulating its exact position we can teleport anyone from that location back to the starter pad." He began calculating and then said sourly, "It's turned off. Even the GPS part. Now we have no leads."

Ran, looking _very _worried, asked, "Is there any other way to track them?"

Agasa spoke up, "Their Detective Badges have transmitters. We could use the spare pair of tracking glasses to trace them." He then took them out of his pocket, "As it just so happens, I accidently put these in my pocket this morning, and completely forgot about them until just now."

He put them on, turned them on, and said, "Odd, there's only one blinking dot, not five, and it's very faint. It's in the Beika area. Does anyone have a map?" After comparing the coordinates to the hastily supplied map, he said, "The dot isn't moving, so it might just be a fluke, but if these coordinates are to be trusted, then they just got teleported to somewhere in the vicinity of Teitan Elementary School."

"If they're there, it'd be easier to just pick them up," said Megure. "It'd be a lot easier than using that infernal contraption again, not to mention a lot safer."

They all agreed, so they immediately drove over there. They got out of their cars and Agasa turned on the glasses again, since he'd turned them off to save the short-life batteries. "This way," he said, looking at the screen, and starting to walk. They all followed behind quickly. In the middle of the school yard, Agasa stopped and said, "According to this, they should be right here, but they're not."

"Of course they aren't!" roared Kogoro. "If they were anywhere around, they'd have come running up to us the moment we arrived! They _are _kids!"

"You're sure they're here?" asked Yusaku, and he got an affirmative nod. "Well, if they're not on the surface, and they can't be in the sky, then the only other conclusion is that the badge got buried in the ground. Let's find shovels."

They immediately went to the tool shed, got shovels, and began digging. Within ten minutes, they uncovered a box, labeled TIME CAPSULE: DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 2050 BY ORDER OF TEITAN ELEMENTARY CLASS 1-B.

They opened the box, despite the warning, and started rooting through the contents. Suddenly, Mr. Itou reached in and withdrew a plastic bag. Within was the badge, along with a note. The note was then opened and it read

_To those who may find this note, I would just like to say that this badge is a genuine Detective Boys badge that Agasa-hakase will invent in ten years time. During a teleportation demonstration, the professor in charge and his crew sent my four friends and me to the past, 10 years in the past to be exact. Our families don't know us, so we've had to make the best of things. We've put this note and a Detective Boys badge into this capsule so that it may be found in the future, and you can be sure of this note's authenticity, and of our location. We have resolved to always stick together and keep the beacon on, in the hopes that one day we might go home. With that I say farewell, and please either try to get us home, or look for us in ten years, as teenagers. _

_Sincerely, _

_Edogawa Conan Yoshida Ayumi Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko Kojima Genta Haibara Ai_

_The Detective Boys_

"Well, it appears they're in the past," said Yusaku. "It explains how a badge got underground and why the ground doesn't look disturbed."

"So how do we get them back?" exclaimed Ran.

Yusaku was considering an idea, and planned on asking about it as soon as possible.

Chapter Seven Alternate

Yusaku had been looking thoughtful this whole time, and then said "Conan-kun wrote that they'd keep the beacon on all the time. Since they're not here waiting for us, and none of us has seen anyone looking like them for the past ten years, we can only assume they went back to the future. That would mean that there's some way to bring them home. Is there a way to bring them home?" he directed this last part at the three college students.

"There could be." said Kentaro excitedly "If we could duplicate what happened, we might be able to lock onto the beacon at some point in the past and teleport them back here! Of course, we'd have to run a lot of tests on the exact angle and the amount of devastation the explosion had on everything, but it might actually be possible."

"Let's do it," said Yusaku.

With that, they replaced the time capsule, but without the plastic bag and its contents, and they all went to start the testing.

Chapter Eight Alternate

It took a few weeks for the explosion to fully be analyzed, as well as its effects on the machine. Then it was a simple matter of rigging it to be 'exploded' again to duplicate what happened the first time. Everyone was worried about the kids, but they could only hope the experiment would be a success.

Finally the modifications were done. Everyone who knew the full circumstances tagged along to the lab as soon as everything was in perfect working order. The console had apparently been hooked up to some kind of earthquake generating device. The principle was, apparently, that the explosion had shaken the memory banks a lot, pushing all the data away to the past, where it was reconstructed as the five kids.

The earthquake generator would rattle the equipment during retrieval, and would hopefully get everyone from the past back to the present. To aid in the teleportation, the machine would try to duplicate the previous teleporter transmission, which had taken the five kids.

After all the geeky explanations, the machine was hooked up and ready to go. The machine was turned on, and everyone waited with bated breath. Then the head student turned the first key. The machine rattled and rolled, and everyone covered their faces, bracing for something bad. Nothing happened. Suddenly, Mr. Ueda peered into the memory bank, and shouted really loud, "It worked! We've got them!" Everyone was glad, but knew to save their rejoicing for later, in case something might still go wrong. Then Kentaro slowly turned the second key, and slowly, oh so slowly, five outlines started appearing on the pad.

In the next few seconds, the outlines grew more solid and then they were back. The kids opened their eyes, looked around, and let out screams of joy, as did the adults. Everyone was celebrating, while the kids looked around wondering just what the heck was going on.

After all the celebrations were over, and a follow-up report on the whole incident had been submitted to Police HQ by Inspector Megure and Detective Takagi, who had tagged along, everyone went home. The three real kids were ecstatic to be home. Unlike Conan and Ai, they'd never lived in that time period, and the whole place had been alien. Technology was slow, and a lot of landmarks they knew either looked different or didn't exist at all.

Apparently, they'd been picked up on the morning of their second day there, and they'd been standing around the beacon in the middle of the Beika Park when everything started going white. When their vision had cleared, they had found themselves in the science lab, with everyone celebrating.

After explaining their turn of events, Conan asked, "Hey Yusaku-ojisan," he was pretending he wasn't related to him, "just how long were we gone?" If they'd been gone two days, then they shouldn't have been celebrating so much, or so he thought.

"Oh, only about three weeks or so, Conan-kun," Ran answered him, and Conan could tell she was really trying hard to keep the joy out of her voice. Conan instantly realized why everyone had been so worried. With all the time travel stuff, while they'd only been in the past two days, they had arrived back into the future weeks after they'd initially left. The three kids were taken home, where they were met by overjoyed parents, and Yusaku, Agasa, Conan, and Ai had gone to Agasa's house to discuss the murder case, and what, if anything, the five kids had done in the past, and if the two of them noticed anything different.

"Well," said Conan, "we really didn't do much. Haibara's read her share of sci-fi novels, and warned us to not do much of anything, if we could help it. All we really did was knock out 7 year old Shinichi and replace him with me, minus the glasses. That's how we got that note and the badge into the time capsule without raising suspicions. I presume you have the badge now, so I think I'd like it back." Agasa took out the badge, which he'd already confirmed was in perfect working order, and gave it back to Conan.

Conan then went home to the Detective Agency, and Yusaku went back to America. They resumed their normal routines, and Conan couldn't help but wonder what might have happened if they hadn't been able to come back. He eventually gave up, since, by his logic, what happened in the past stays in the past, and since the past was past, wondering about what might have happened wasn't the wisest move. He therefore resolved to always look towards the future, and _that _philosophy was led to the downfall of the Organization a year later.

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><p><em>The Timeless Murder<em> is officially ended at this point. For me, it was my first murder case, so I hope that when I write murders and crimes in the future, I'll just keep getting better. Many thanks to the (few) people that supported me and commented on this story by the time this chapter was published. Please look forward to more of my stories in the future!


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